The Great Simon Debate

As a TV producer, what I found most interesting was that it was actually at Ryan's prompting that the show even addressed the tragedy in the first place. According to the show's Executive Producer, Nigel Lythgoe, who also called into to KIIS-FM, he was at first against the idea, "We debated yesterday discussing the subject of Virginia Tech altogether. You felt the mood of the country couldn't be ignored and I felt that I didnt really want to feed the frenzy that was going on that moment about it because I think these crazy people do these things for the publicity but we ended up saying we cant ignore the mood of the country. We must pay our respects and we did what we did at the top of the show. Nobody anticipated that Chris would mention it."

As word spilled out and my co-workers here began listening to Simon on KIIS, this began a spirited email debate between the "Access Hollywood" team. Take a look:

AH Staffer # 1: Besides for Simon's obvious insensitivity to what happened, I think this reflects the aftermath of the Imus controversy...Everyone seems to be extra sensitive as to how they react and what they say...seems there is an atmosphere of feeling the need to be "politically correct" out of fear of the media backlash

AH Staffer # 2: He just backpeddled on Seacrest saying that he was done listening to Chris and had rolled his eyes at something Paula said but after the next commercial and after Blake sang last, Simon offered up his own words to V-Tech. Anyone wanna bet a producer told him the eye-roll was on camera, smelling tomorrow's controversy, and told him to say something to save his ass. And # 1's point is great....in the wake of Imus (and Isaiah, Michael etc) this culture is ready to annoint the next villain readily.

DOS: He talked about though that he and Ryan discussed how they would handle it. He says Ryan wanted to say something at top of show and he wanted to close it at the end and say something about it being a difficult week for the contestants.

AH Staffer # 3: I agree with # 2. I think a producer alerted him that he was on camera and that he better clean it up. Totally out-of-character for Simon to offer condolences in the middle of the show. Especially since Ryan said mentioned V-Tech at the top of the show.

AH Staffer # 4: I'm no fan of Simon, but in his defense - to me he looked like he was angry at Ryan for his slam (called him big-headed) and Chris' stupid nasally excuse. I really don't think he was reacting to Chris' words on Virginia Tech.

AH Staffer # 5: I agree with # 4 (although I am a big fan of Simon's) he was purely reacting to Chris being opportunistic..NOT at the Virginia situation.....He is to media savvy .

AH Staffer # 1: I think that he was reacting to Chris but it came off as insensitive (bad timing) and because everyone seems to be on edge with political correctness, Simon is making a point to publicly address the situation.

AH Staffer # 6: My impression was that he was rolling his eyes insinuating that Chris was trying to deflect the criticism by mentioning VA tech but Simon didn't realize Chris is from that area....which Simon admitted to Ryan this morning.I think Chris was planning on saying something whether he got criticism or praise...I agree with # 1 and # 2 that a producer got in his ear in light of Imus situation...and fyi just interesting because many people won't know unless they are country fans, but Rascal Flatts'(country group he sang song of) lead singer is HUGELY nasally ...not that I agree "nasally" is a "form" of singing, but it certainly is for Rascal Rlatts guy and if you were to play Chris and Rascal Flatts one after other, they would sound identical.

AH Staffer # 2: Simon perceived Chris to be changing the topic to "higher ground", one that would cast him in a good guy light and attract votes. He rolled his eyes at the timing of it all. Many would agree with Simon if he'd stand tall.

DOS: OMG. Totally spoken like a true Simon

AH Staffer # 2: Or a Trump

AH Staffer # 7: IDOL STATEMENT
"This is a sad time for everyone, so it is especially disheartening that a quick camera cutaway could have been misinterpreted. We're sorry for any grief caused by this misunderstanding, but Simon was not reacting to Chris at that point. He had turned to speak to Paula and didn't actually hear Chris' final comments. Everyone at "American Idol" feels compassion for those affected by this tragedy. We opened the show with those thoughts and Simon later expressed sincere condolences on behalf of the judges, recognizing the challenges we all face in dealing with this horrible event."

- Nigel Lythgoe, Executive Producer, American Idol

AH Staffer # 2: This statement in my opinion is a backpeddle and a lie. What he did was innocent and easily forgiveable. Just be honest. This is bs.

So, this debate could clearly go on all day. I'll just wrap it up by saying that I have been inside the studio audience of Idol dozens of time. Most recently last week. It's very difficult sometimes to hear the judges or the contestants. As soon as the audience starts booing or wooing, the sound gets drowned out and you simply can't hear the contestants or the judges comments anymore. So, it's highly likely that Simon couldn't hear Chris.

Ok, moving on. Nigel also told Ryan this morning about how he plans to break down the show tonight, " I'm going to split the kids into a top group of three and a bottom group of three and then ask the seventh member, that they are through, and they must go and join the top group. Then it's up to them which group they go and join."

You'll recall he did this last season with Taylor Hicks who ended up defiantly standing right in the middle. My guess is Melinda Doolittle will be the poor soul who has to make the gut wrenching choice.